Method and system for appraising a collection of products

ABSTRACT

A system and method for a librarian facilitates appraising the value of all or selected products in a collection of products. The collection of products may be part of a library that includes one or more photographic images of the library, and an inventory of the products revealed in those images. The librarian facilitates appraising the value of products in the collection with reference to the images. Appraisals may be automatically updated, and users notified in accordance with user notification preferences. An automated referral may be provided to the user to sell all or selected ones of the appraised inventory of products, individually or together. An extended appraisal may be provided to facilitate enhancing the value of a collection in the library.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/920,149, filed on Aug. 17, 2004 and entitled METHOD ANDSYSTEM FOR A PERSONAL LIBRARIAN, which, in turn, is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/864,291,filed on Jun. 9, 2004 and entitled METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR INVENTORYVERIFICATION, priority from the filing dates of both of which is herebyclaimed under 35 U.S.C. §120. The subject matter of application Ser.Nos. 10/920,149 and 10/864,291 are expressly incorporated herein byreference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to methods and systems for appraisinga collection of products.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The information age has produced an explosion of media for people toenjoy, whether a book, a video or audiocassette, a CD, or DVD, includingmusic, movies, and video games. Keeping track of which titles a consumerhas in their media library can be challenging.

Systems to help home and other users catalog books, movies and othermedia are known in the art. For example, there are a number ofproprietary database applications that help users create databases tostore and manage information about their collections. The informationmay be typed in, or even scanned from a barcode that is affixed to theproduct, as is done in large scale inventory control systems forlibraries or retailers. In at least one application, the information maybe obtained from online sources, such as library or retailer web sites.

One of the problems with current systems is that they are typicallystandalone products that require manual entry of information about eachtitle in a user's physical library or media inventory. The databaseresides on the user's computer, which can make it difficult to accessremotely. The database may also not be readily transportable by theuser. Moreover, the information in the database is only accurate andup-to-date if the user takes the time to maintain the database.

Another problem with known database catalogs is that there is no directconnection between the information about a particular title and itscurrent physical location (e.g., in a bookcase(s), CD tower(s), etc.).In addition, the user's physical library may be distributed amongstmultiple geographic locations (e.g., different rooms in a home, both ata home and an office, at multiple homes, etc.). Further, it may bedifficult to ascertain the value of the products in a user's library.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To address the above-described problems and other shortcomings in theprior art, the present invention provides a method for a user to obtainan appraisal of all or selected products in a collection of products.The products in the collection may include products depicted in an imagefrom which an inventory of the products has been generated.

Included is a method for updating the appraisal of the products,periodically or on demand, and notifying the user about the appraisal inaccordance with the user's notification preferences.

In one aspect of the invention, an automated referral may be provided tothe user to sell all or selected products in the appraised collection ofproducts, individually or together. An appraisal interface may also beprovided to, among others, facilitate the selection of products forwhich an appraisal is requested, including by product or by collection,link to the automated referral to sell the appraised products, indicatea condition of the products for which the appraisal is requested,including by product or by collection, display additional products thatmay be acquired to increase the appraised value of a collection, link toan interface to purchase the additional products, and indicatepreferences for the frequency of and notification about the appraisal.

In another aspect of the invention, the collection of products may beinventoried as part of a library to which a user has access. Thelibrary's inventory may include one or more images of the products asthey are stored in the library, and an inventory of the productsrevealed in those images. The library may include any type of productthat is typically stored in a manner that reveals a side of the productor the product packaging that contains product identificationinformation, such as books or CDs that are stored vertically orhorizontally on a shelf to reveal the book spine or the title edge ofthe CD case, or any other type of product, either packaged or withoutpackaging, which can be identified and inventoried. Certain embodimentsof the invention may use methods for identifying and maintaining aninventory of products that are described in commonly assigned co-pendingU.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/864,291, filed on Jun. 9, 2004, andentitled METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR INVENTORY VERIFICATION, the content ofwhich is expressly incorporated herein by reference.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of thisinvention will become more readily appreciated as the same become betterunderstood by reference to the following detailed description, whentaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a pictorial diagram showing an exemplary operating environmentfor implementing a method and system for appraising products in alibrary in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram depicting an arrangement of certain computingcomponents for implementing an embodiment of a library appraisal systemand method consistent with the operating environment depicted in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram depicting an arrangement of functionalcomponents for implementing an embodiment of a library appraisal systemand method consistent with the operating environment and computingcomponents shown in FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIGS. 4A-4E are flow diagrams a library appraisal method formed inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 depicts a browser program with an example Web page presenting alibrarian administrator interface to a user in accordance with anembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 depicts a browser program with an example Web page presenting alibrarian create/update interface to a user in accordance with anembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 7 depicts a browser program with an example Web page presenting alibrarian viewer interface to a user in accordance with an embodiment ofthe invention;

FIG. 8 depicts a browser program with an example Web page presenting alibrarian inventory interface to a user in accordance with an embodimentof the invention;

FIG. 9 depicts a browser program with an example Web page presenting alibrarian viewer interface to a user in accordance with an embodiment ofthe invention illustrating an updated inventory from FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 depicts a browser program with an example Web page presenting alibrarian locator interface to a user in accordance with an embodimentof the invention;

FIG. 11 depicts a browser program with an example Web page presenting auser interface to a user to send a library to another user in accordancewith an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 12 depicts a browser program with an example Web page presenting alibrarian adviser interface to a user in accordance with an embodimentof the invention;

FIGS. 13A-13C depict a browser program with example Web pages presentinga librarian appraisal interface to a user in accordance with anembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 14 depicts a browser program with an example Web page presenting alibrarian acquisition interface to a user in accordance with anembodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 15 depicts a browser program with an example Web page presenting alibrarian organizer interface to a user in accordance with an embodimentof the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates one environment for implementing an embodiment of thepresent invention. The environment shown includes a librarian system 100with database and librarian servers that use images of products storedin a library to facilitate the maintenance of the library. Theenvironment also includes various electronic user devices, such as acomputer system 102 and a PDA 104 that individuals can use tocommunicate with the librarian system 100. In the environment shown inFIG. 1, the user devices 102, 104 communicate with the librarian system100 via one or more computer networks, such as the Internet 106.Protocols and components for communicating via the Internet are wellknown to those of ordinary skill in the art of computer networkcommunications. Communication between user devices 102, 104 and thelibrarian system 100 may also be enabled by local wired or wirelesscomputer network connections.

The librarian system 100 depicted in FIG. 1 operates in a distributedcomputing environment comprising several computer systems that areinterconnected via communication links, e.g., using one or more computernetworks or direct connections. However, it will be appreciated by thoseof ordinary skill in the art that the system 100 could equally operatein a computer system having fewer or greater number of components thanare illustrated in FIG. 1. Thus, the depiction of the librarian system100 in FIG. 1 should be taken as exemplary, and not limiting to thescope of the invention.

The librarian system 100, as illustrated, includes a librarian server108, a database server 110, and a back-end interface 112. Each of theservers 108 and 110 are described below in more detail. The back-endinterface 112 allows an operator of the librarian system 100 to monitorand adjust the operation of the servers 108 and 110 as needed.

In brief, the librarian server 108 is generally responsible forproviding front-end user communication with various user devices, suchas devices 102 and 104. The front-end communication provided by thelibrarian server 108 may include generating user interfaces comprisingtext and/or graphics, possibly organized as a Web page using hypertexttransfer protocols, for communicating images and information about theusers' home libraries to and from the various user devices 102, 104.

In one suitable implementation, the librarian server 108 enables a userto upload images of products stored in a library to the database server110. The library may comprise products stored for warehousing,retailing, reading, reference, lending, or any other purpose, and mayeven comprise products that are stored in separate physical locations,such as separate buildings, rooms, or shelves. From the images thelibrarian server 108 generates an inventory of the products depicted inthe images, stores the images and inventory on the database server 110,and enables the user to view the images and inventory in an easy to usegraphical user interface. In a typical embodiment, the inventory isgenerated as described in commonly assigned co-pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/864,291, which was previously incorporatedherein by reference. Through the interface, the user is given anopportunity to verify that the inventory accurately reflects theproducts stored in the library, as well as to view and locate productsin the library online. In one embodiment, the images may be obtainedfrom digital images of products stored in the library, e.g., on thebookshelves. The digital images may be actively uploaded on demand orpassively uploaded at predetermined times directly to the librarianserver 108. The uploaded images may be optionally stored in a databasemaintained by the database server 110.

In one embodiment, the inventory database stored in database server 110includes information about various stored products, including (but notlimited to) books, audiobooks (cassettes or CDs), music CDs, DVDs, orany other type of product that is capable of being stored in a librarysuch that the product identification information is revealed on one ormore sides of the product when captured in a photographic image of thestored product, and from which a visual identification of the productmay be readily made. Typically, the product identification informationincludes any human-comprehensible text or other features that appear ona visible part of a product, such as a book spine, or the edge of a CDcase, and that help to identify the product without machineintervention. For example the product identification information mightinclude such information as the title, author, or performer, or a logoassociated with an author or performer. In one embodiment, the inventoryinformation included in the inventory database may be obtained directlyfrom the product identification information revealed on the product ascaptured in the above-described photographic images using various textand feature recognition techniques. In one embodiment, the inventoryinformation includes information that indicates a relative or absolutelocation of the product, or a combination of both. The relative locationmay be the location of a product as compared to other products capturedin the image. The absolute location may be identified in a visible labelaffixed to the bookshelf or media storage unit depicted in the image. Insome cases, the location may be represented by a filename associatedwith the image in which the product is depicted.

Alternatively, or in addition, the inventory information may be manuallyinput by a user into the librarian server 108 by reading and enteringthe information in conjunction with an upload or display of the image ofthe stored product. For example, the location of products captured inthe image may be the location of the bookshelf in a user's home as theuser indicated when actively uploading the image using their digitalcamera, such as the living room, or den. As another example, thelocation of products captured in the image may the location of a bin ina warehouse, as automatically captured during a passive uploading of theimage of the contents of the bin using an embedded camera. Regardless ofhow the information is obtained, whether actively or passively, orwhether from the image itself or from information supplied with theimage, or a combination of both, the inventory information may includevarious attributes that describe and identify the inventoried products,including (but not limited to) title, author/performer, publisher, andstorage location. The inventory database may further include an indexthat enables the librarian server 108 to organize and present theinventoried products and corresponding images to a user according to oneor more of these attributes. In a typical embodiment, the inventoryinformation is generated or obtained as described in commonly assignedco-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/864,291, which waspreviously incorporated herein by reference.

The librarian server 108 further provides back-end inventory services incooperation with the database server 110, including generating inventorytransactions to update the information and attributes contained in theinventory database. The database server 110, as will be furtherdescribed below, maintains the databases from which the librarian server108 generates the user interfaces, including the above-described imageand inventory databases.

FIG. 2 illustrates certain exemplary computing components that areresponsible for the operation of the librarian system 100 shown inFIG. 1. The database server 110 includes a master library imagesdatabase 208, a current library images database 210, a history database212, and a searchable library inventory database 214. The master libraryimages database 208 contains images that capture the stored products ata certain point in time and from which the inventory information hasalready been verified using the services of the librarian server 108.The current library images 210 contain new images of some or all of thesame locations captured in the master images 208 of the library, but ata later point in time.

The history database 212 contains historical data relating to thepurchasing history and behavior of the owner of the library. Thehistorical data are used to complement the recognition of storedproducts when the images of the products are not of sufficient qualityto recognize the products that they depict. Lastly, the inventorydatabase 214 contains the product identification and storage locationinformation that make up the inventory of the library. In oneembodiment, the inventory database 214 contains product appraisalinformation associated with the inventory of the library, if any,including appraisals of individual products and appraisals of all or asubset of products taken together as a whole, i.e., a collection ofproducts.

In one embodiment, the database server 110 is configured to receiveinstructions from the librarian server 108 and return images from theimage databases 208, 210, as well as information from the inventorydatabase 214. The images and inventory information enable the librarianserver 108 to display to the user in an integrated manner the presence,location, and identification of books, CDs, and other products stored inthe library for purposes of taking and verifying an inventory,determining whether a product is in inventory, and where it is located.For example, the librarian server 108 may display to the user an imageof a bin or bookshelf superimposed with a graphic that points to thelocation of a product that is already present in the library. Since thelatest available image of the product may be out-of-date, the graphicmay point to the location where the product was when last captured in animage.

In the illustrated embodiment, the librarian server 108 and databaseserver 110 are shown including an operating system 202B and 202A,respectively, that provide executable program instructions for thegeneral administration and operation of the servers 108, 110. Suitableimplementations for the operating systems 202B and 202A are known orcommercially available, and are readily implemented by persons havingordinary skill in the art, particularly in light of the disclosureherein. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that thelibrarian server 108 and database server 110 will also typically employa memory 204B and 204A, respectively, and processor 206B and 206A inwhich program instructions are stored and executed for operation of theservers. The librarian server 108 further includes computer programinstructions for implementing a librarian 300 that operates incooperation with the database server 110 to facilitate the maintenanceof a library. Likewise, the database server 110 further includesexecutable program instructions for maintaining and updating thedatabases 208, 210, 212, and 214, and responding to requests receivedfrom the librarian server 108.

For the sake of convenience, much of the description herein is providedin the context of maintaining an inventory of books in a library, but itshould be well understood that the description herein is also applicableto facilitating the maintenance of an inventory of CD and DVD products,as well as other media and non-media products that can be stored invarious commercial or private environments, such as a warehouse, aretail store, a lending library, public or private, or a user's home.References herein to specific types of products, such as books,audiobooks, etc., are only illustrative and do not serve to limit thegeneral application of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram depicting an arrangement of certain exemplaryfunctional computing components for implementing the librarian 300, asshown and described in the illustrated embodiment with reference toFIGS. 1 and 2. The librarian 300 includes, among others, a process for auser interface 302 to generate a user-friendly graphical user interfacefor use when maintaining a library, as will be described in furtherdetail with reference to FIGS. 5-15.

In one embodiment, the librarian 300 further includes an administrator304 that is responsible for administrative functions 310 such as librarycreation, inventory taking, library update, and sharing the library withothers via email or other communications medium. The librarian 300 mayfurther include a viewer/locator 306 process that is responsible forfunctions 312 of generating and displaying a view of the library imagesand inventory to a user in response to a request from a user to view,verify, change, or otherwise use the inventory information derived fromthe images, and to locate particular items of inventory by searching forsearch terms that may appear in the inventory information associatedwith an item in the library. In one embodiment, the function 312 ofgenerating and displaying a view of the library to the user in responseto the user's request includes a function 312 that will serve torestrict searching the library to a particular collection of thelibrary. A collection is an arbitrary grouping of one or more items ofinventory in the library as defined by the user.

The librarian 300 may further include an adviser process 308 that isresponsible for performing functions 314 such as appraisals of all orselected products in a collection of products stored in a library,making acquisition recommendations based on the inventory of the libraryto enhance the library in some manner, including increasing an appraisedvalue of a collection of products in the library, and further makingorganization recommendations, also based on the inventory of the libraryas well as any current organization, e.g., the user's collectiondesignations, where a collection is defined as an arbitrary grouping ofone or more items of inventory in the library.

FIGS. 4A-4E are flow diagrams describing one embodiment of a librarianprocess 400 that enables an implementation of a librarian system 100, asillustrated in FIGS. 1-3. Beginning with reference to FIG. 4A, atprocess block 402, the librarian process 400 displays a librarian userinterface, examples of which are illustrated in detail below withreference to FIGS. 5-15, each of which illustrate a browser program 500displaying Web pages in which a user is able to interface with thelibrarian 300 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.The Web pages may be generated by the librarian server 108 and deliveredto the user's computing device 102, 104 via the Internet 106.

With reference to FIG. 4A and FIG. 5, the process 400 initiallydisplays, at process block 402, an administrator Web page 502 in which auser is able to select an existing library or to create a new library.In the illustrated example in FIG. 5, the administrator Web page 502includes a title “The Librarian” and a subtitle “Administrator” atreference numerals 504 and 506, respectively, to identify the pagefunction, along with two options, “Select a Library,” at referencenumeral 508, and “Enter New Library Name,” at reference numeral 514. Forthe “Select a Library” option 508, the user is prompted to enter anexisting library name at reference numeral 510, in this case by pullingdown the list of existing library names at reference numeral 511, andselecting the desired name, here “John's Library.” For the “Enter NewLibrary Name” option 514, the user is prompted to enter a new libraryname at reference numeral 516 in text box 517, here “Mary's Library.”Once the name has been supplied, the user is prompted to enter “GO” incommand buttons at reference numerals 512, 518, respectively, to branchto the next Web page, illustrated in FIG. 6.

Continuing now with the description in FIG. 4A, at process block 404,the librarian process 400 uploads images of a library into the currentlibrary images database 210 to be stored on the database server 110using the example Web page interface illustrated in FIG. 6. The Web pageinterface includes a create Web page 602, identified here with the title“Create or Update A Library” at reference numeral 604, to receive userinput for creating or updating a library, beginning with the prompt“Enter new or existing library name” and accompanying text box 606, inthis example “Mary's Library.” At reference numeral 608, the user isfurther prompted to “Supply new/updated images” with multiple inputareas 610A-C, and 612A-C, in which to enter the image filename and,optionally, a collection name that the user wishes to use to identifythe subset of books, CDs, etc. that that comprise a collection, andhappen to be stored on the particular bookshelf or other storage unitdepicted in the image stored in the file designated by the correspondingfilename. In the illustrated example in FIG. 6, the user has entered thefilename “Shelf1.jpg” at reference numeral 610A and a collection name of“Mysteries” at reference numeral 612A, the filename “Shelf2.jpg” atreference numeral 610B and a collection name of “Kids” at referencenumeral 612B, and the filename “CDSHELF.jpg” at reference numeral 610Cand a collection name of “Music” at reference numeral 612C. Greater orfewer filenames and corresponding collection names may be entered,depending on how many images the user wishes to upload. Although theimage filenames in the illustrated example are all files of type “.jpg”indicating a JPEG type of image file, other kinds of image file formatsmay be used, e.g., TIFF, BMP, etc.

Once the filenames of the images have been supplied along with any ofthe optional collection names, the user is further prompted to uploadthe images into his or her library, the name of which was input atreference numeral 606, at command button labeled “UPLOAD IMAGES” atreference numeral 614. Activating the command button “UPLOAD IMAGES” atreference numeral 614 will cause the librarian process 400 to begin theprocess of uploading the images to a new or existing library in thecurrent library images database 210 as explained in further detailbelow.

Continuing now with the description in FIG. 4A, at process block 406,the librarian process 400 generates inventory to be stored in thelibrary inventory database 214 for the library named in text box 606 inFIG. 6. The generation of the inventory is based primarily on theidentification information revealed in the images that were uploaded tothe current library images database 210 at process block 404. In atypical embodiment, the inventory is generated as described in commonlyassigned co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/864,291, whichwas previously incorporated herein by reference. For example, in oneembodiment, the product identification information may include variousdistinguishing attributes of the product or the product's packaging. Theattributes may include text, e.g., author, performer, title, publisher,ISBN number, etc., graphics, e.g. cover artwork, logo, typeface, etc.,and/or physical characteristics, e.g., product dimensions, shape, color,reflectivity, etc., with or without packaging, however the product isstored. Generating the inventory from the product identificationinformation may include recognizing the product identification throughthe heuristic application of one or more recognition techniques to theimage in an effort to resolve ambiguities and improve the reliability ofthe recognition without having to resort to manual efforts to determinewhat products are stored on a particular shelf or location. Therecognition techniques include the application of text recognition orother optical character or feature recognition techniques to theattributes contained in the product identification information, e.g.,the product's text, graphics, and/or other physical characteristics.

In one embodiment, since the image or images of the library may includemore than one product stored in a particular location, in one embodimentrecognizing the product identification may employ various patternrecognition techniques known in the art, such as edge detection, tofirst isolate a portion of the photographic image before attempting torecognize the product identification, where the isolated portion of theimage is of a single product stored in the location. In addition, themethod for recognizing the product identification may rotate the imagein different orientations prior to the application of the recognitiontechnique so as to maximize the chances of recognizing products storedin different orientations, e.g., horizontal, vertical, or somewhere inbetween.

In one embodiment, recognition of the product identification may beachieved through comparison to a reference image of the product. This isparticularly useful when the received photographic image, or isolatedportion of the image, carries insufficient detail for proper recognitionor is otherwise deficient, such as when the storage location is inpartial shadow, improperly lighted, or where the stored products areworn or used such that the appearance of the distinguishing attributescomprising the product's identification information has deteriorated.The reference image typically includes a complete referenceidentification of a product, such as an image of a book spine completewith title and author, and in some cases may be obtained from aphotographic image or digital scan of the product carried out especiallyfor that purpose when the item is initially unboxed and added toinventory. The reference image may be further inferred from an image ofthe product that includes that portion of the image that is to be usedas the reference image, such as when the reference image is an image ofthe spine of a book that has been inferred from one or more images ofthe book's front and back covers.

In one embodiment, recognizing the product identification revealed onone or more sides of the product as captured in the photographic imagemay rely on a previous recognition of that product, i.e., the method isself-learning. For example, the reference image may be obtained frompreviously-received photographic images of the product from whichaccurate recognition was achieved. Comparison to such a reference imagemay increase the reliability of recognition when receiving subsequentphotographic images that include the product in question.

In one embodiment, should the identification information revealed in theimages be inadequate to fully recognize the identity of the books, CDs,etc. depicted in the images, the librarian process 400 consultshistorical data obtained from the history database 212 to determinewhether there exists any information associated with the user thatprovides a hint as to the identity of the books, CDs, etc. depicted inthe image. The historical data may be any data gathered about the userwith respect to the contents of his or her library. For example, thehistorical data may provide information as to the identity of books andCDs that the user has purchased in the past, or the genres that the useris most likely to have in their library.

After exhausting attempts to recognize products directly from theuploaded photographic image, either alone or in combination with areference image or a hint present in the historical data, recognitionmay be achieved through display of the image of the home library to theuser and prompting him or her to resolve any remaining ambiguities inrecognizing the identification of the product by entering the productidentification information, such as author, title, etc., as necessary.The entered product identification information is associated with theuploaded photographic image of the product, thereby further increasingthe chances of accurate recognition when receiving subsequent uploadedphotographic images that include the product in question.

Continuing now with the description in FIG. 4A, at process block 408,the librarian process 400 updates the master library images database 208with the current library images 210. Any previous images of the librarymay be archived or discarded. At process block 410, the librarianprocess 400 generates a view of the library, the view comprising adisplay of the images of the library as stored on the master libraryimages database 208, in conjunction with the list of the inventorydepicted in the image as stored on the library inventory database 214.An example of the view generated by the librarian process 400 at processblock 410 is illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 9, with FIG. 7 illustrating aview of the “Kids” collection in “Mary's Library” before any correctionsto the inventory data as described in FIG. 8 (and process block 412 inFIG. 4B, below), and FIG. 9 illustrating the same view aftercorrections. Specifically, FIGS. 7 and 9 illustrate an example Web pageinterface for a library viewer, including a viewer Web page at referencenumerals 702, 902, identified here with the title “View My Library” atreference numeral 704, 904. The viewer Web page 702, 902 furtherincludes a prompt to enter the library name in the accompanying text box706, 906, in this example “Mary's Library.” At reference numeral 708,908, is a command button labeled “GO,” which, when activated, will causethe librarian process 400 to display an image associated with Mary'sLibrary, as well as the inventory information corresponding to theimage. In the illustrated example, at reference numeral 710, 910, theuser is further prompted to select from a drop-down box at referencenumeral 712, 912, the name of the collection in “Mary's Library” thatthe user would like to view, in this example the “Kids” collection.After the selection has been made, the image from the master libraryimages database 208 associated with the “Kids” collection of “Mary'sLibrary” is displayed at reference numeral 720, 920. Alongside thedisplay of the image, the librarian process 400 further displays thecorresponding inventory information as obtained from the libraryinventory database 214, here entitled “Titles—Top to Bottom and Left toRight” at reference numeral 714, 914, followed by the inventoryinformation identifying the titles “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer'sStone” at reference numeral 716A, 916A “Harry Potter and the Goblet ofFire” at reference numeral 716B, 916B “Harry Potter and the Order of thePheonix” [sic], at reference numeral 716C (corrected at referencenumeral 916C), and “Hitchhiker: A Biography of Douglas Adams,” atreference numeral 716D, 916D.

Returning now to FIG. 4B, the librarian process 400 continues at processblock 412 to update, correct, and reorganize the inventory in responseto user input to the viewer interface generated at process block 410. Inthe illustrated viewer interface in FIG. 7, the user has selected thethird Harry Potter title at reference numeral 716C, “Harry Potter andthe Order of the Pheonix,” [sic] to correct the error in the spelling ofPhoenix, as further described below. As shown in the illustratedexample, when the user selects a particular title, the images appearingat reference numerals 720, 920 are overlaid with a graphic 718, 918 thatcalls attention to the location in the image of the selected title asdescribed in further detail with reference to process block 416 in FIG.4B. In this example, the graphic 718, 918 is an arrow that contains thetitle of the selection, and whose endpoint clearly points to theselected title.

Continuing now with process block 412, once a particular title in thelibrary has been selected, the user may navigate to a detailed inventoryinterface as illustrated in FIG. 8. FIG. 8 illustrates an example Webpage interface for a library inventory at reference numeral 802,identified here with the title “Librarian Inventory Detail,” atreference numeral 804, followed by identification information obtainedform the library inventory database 214, here including the title atreference numeral 806A, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” theauthor at reference numeral 806B, “J. K. Rowling,” the location atreference numeral 806C, “Kids Collection, second shelf, first book onthe left,” the book type at reference numeral 806D, “Hardbound,” and thedate of the last update at reference numeral 806E, “Jun. 1, 2004.” Theuser is prompted to “Please enter corrections to inventory data above,”at reference numeral 810, and is further provided with a command buttonat reference numeral 808 that is labeled “ENTER/UPDATE.” Activating thecommand button 808 causes the librarian process 400 to update thelibrary inventory database 214 with the edited input as it appears onthe Web page inventory interface 802. In this example, the user hasre-entered the title to correct the spelling of “Phoenix.” The user mayalso choose to reorganize the contents of their library by updating thelocation and collection designations associated with the title.Reorganizing the contents of the library is discussed in further detailwith reference to process block 434 in FIG. 4D and FIG. 15 below.

Returning now to FIG. 4B, the librarian process 400 continues at processblock 414 to search for locate particular products, e.g., particulartitles, in the library in response to the entry by the user of a searchterm, and at process block 416, to display a located product with theimage depicting the product, a graphic overlaid on the image, and/or atextual description of the location of the product in the library. Inthe illustrated locator interface 1002 illustrated in FIG. 10, the userhas selected the library named “Mary's Library” at reference numeral1004 in which to search for products containing the search term“SUSPICIOUS” as entered in text box 1006, to locate the Nora Robertsmystery entitled “Suspicious.” When the user activates the commandbutton labeled “LOCATE” appearing at reference numeral 1008, thelibrarian process 400 commences a text search of the inventoryinformation contained in the library inventory database 214 for “Mary'sLibrary,” to determine whether there are any items in inventorycontaining the search term “SUSPICIOUS.” In one embodiment, thelibrarian 400 restricts the text search of the inventory information toa particular subset of the inventory, such as a particular subset of theinventory belonging to a collection, e.g., the “Mystery” collection. Theparticular subset within which to restrict the search includes subsetsidentified as collections as specified by a user before or during theuploading of an image to a library. The particular subset within whichto restrict the search may also include subsets identified ascollections during an update or reorganization of the identified ascollections during an update or reorganization of the library. In theillustrated example, the title “SUSPICIOUS” is found in the “Mystery”collection in “Mary's Library.” The library. In the illustrated example,the title “SUSPICIOUS” is found in the “Mystery” collection in “Mary'sLibrary.” The librarian process 400 displays the corresponding image atreference numeral 1018 of the bookshelf entitled the Mystery collectionat reference numeral 1012, and superimposes a graphic in the form of alocation arrow at reference numeral 1016 to point out the location ofthe title on the bookshelf (or, at least, the location of the book atthe time that the image was taken). To the left of the image isdisplayed a list of inventory captured in the image, the list captioned“Titles—Left to Right” at reference numeral 1010 to indicate that thelist corresponds to the appearance of the titles on the bookshelf inorder from left to right. The caption 1010 is followed by the inventoryinformation obtained from the library inventory database 214, herelisted as “A Sight for Sore Eyes by Ruth Rendell” at reference numeral1014A, “Hidden Riches by Nora Roberts” at reference numeral 1014B,“Suspicious by Nora Roberts” at reference numeral 1014C, “The No. 1Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith” at reference numeral1014D, “Morality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith” atreference numeral 1014E, “Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCallSmith” at reference numeral 1014F, “The Kalahari Typing School for Menby Alexander McCall Smith” at reference numeral 1014G, and “HeavenlyDate: And Other Flirtations by Alexander McCall Smith,” at referencenumeral 1014H. In addition to calling out the location of the title inthe image with the location arrow at reference numeral 1016, thelibrarian process 400 may also highlight the listing of the inventoryinformation associated with the located title as illustrated in thehighlighting appearing around the listing of “Suspicious by NoraRoberts,” at reference numeral 1014C. In one embodiment, the location ofthe title is also described in text, as illustrated in the example text“SUSPICIOUS is located on Mystery shelf, 3rd book from the left,”appearing at reference numeral 1020, below the image 1018.

Returning now to FIG. 4B, the librarian process 400 continues at processblock 418, to allow the user to send the library to another user uponrequest. As illustrated in FIG. 4B, the process of sending the libraryto another user includes generating a library object at referencenumeral 420, where the library object is a file that contains the imageor images that comprise the library, as well as the inventoryinformation derived from those images, and possibly corrected, changed,and/or added during user interaction with the librarian 300. The libraryobject 420 is typically in a file format that allows the object to beattached to an electronic mail message for sending to another user viathe Internet 106, e.g., attached to a message “Here's my bookshelf!” Theuser receiving the library object 420 may open it to browse the sender'slibrary using the view interface of the library as described withreference to process block 410 in FIG. 4A, and as illustrated withreference to FIGS. 7 and 9. In one embodiment, the library object 420 isself-executing so that it may operate on any number of client devices102 even though the device has no access to the library and databaseservers 108, 110.

In the illustrated send interface 1102 in FIG. 11, entitled “Send MyLibrary to Others” at reference numeral 1104, the user has entered thelibrary named “Mary's Library” in a text box at reference numeral 1106,and optionally a collection within the library, here entered in a textbox at reference numeral 1110 as the “Kids” collection. The user isfurther prompted to enter in a text box appearing in reference numeral1112, a recipient email address of the other user to whom the library isto be sent, in this example entered as “jane@doe.com.” The librarianprocess 400 further provides a command button at reference numeral 1108labeled “SEND,” which, when activated, will cause the process 400 toprepare to send the library to the other user. In one embodiment,sending the library may include packaging the specified library, orcollection from the library, into an object that comprises the image orimages and inventory associated with the images, where the object iscapable of transport to another user on another computer, in this caseto the email addressee “jane@doe.com.” In an alternate embodiment, the“SEND” button will cause the process 400 to generate or obtain a pointerto the specified library, or collection from the library, and to send orotherwise notify the other user that the pointer may be used to accessthe library. It should be understood that the example in FIG. 11 isprovided for the sake of illustration only. Other means of communicationbesides electronic mail, objects, and pointers may be used to provideaccess to a library to another user.

Referring now to FIG. 4C, the librarian process 400 continues at processblock 422, to display an adviser user interface to the user in responseto a request for advice from the librarian 300 regarding a particularlibrary. In the illustrated adviser interface in FIG. 12 at referencenumeral 1202, entitled “Advise Me About My Library” at reference numeral1204, the user has entered the name of the library “Mary's Library” atreference numeral 1206 for which the user is seeking advice. The user isoptionally prompted to select the name of a particular collection atreference numeral 1210 within the library for which advice is soughtusing a drop-down box at reference numeral 1212, here selecting the“Kids” collection. The librarian process 400 further prompts the user tospecify at reference numeral 1214 “Please check type of advice,” whattype of advice he or she is seeking, below which appears selectionoptions for the type of advice. In this example, the selection optionsprovided include an appraisal of the library at reference numeral 1216,acquisition recommendations at reference numeral 1218, and organizationadvice at reference numeral 1220. The librarian process 400 provides theuser with a command button at reference numeral 1208 labeled “ADVISE,”that may be activated by the user to cause the librarian process 400 to,in turn, cause the Web browser program 500 to display the selectedinterface for the type of advice that is being sought, for the specifiedlibrary and collection. The librarian process 400 further prompts theuser with the text at reference numeral 1222 “Please specifynotification preferences,” to specify his or her preferences whengenerating the selected advice, below which appears preference optionsto use when generating the selected advice. In this example, thepreference options provided include options for specifying preferencesrelated to the frequency 1224 of generating the advice, here shown as“WEEKLY,” and/or communication method 1226 for notifying the user aboutthe advice, here shown as “EMAIL.” Other preference options related tofrequency may include, without limitation, daily, bi-weekly, monthly,etc. or on demand. Other preference options related to the communicationmethod may include, without limitation, voicemail, instant message, textmessage, etc. The preference options that are provided may differ fromthat shown in FIG. 12, depending on the type of advice that has beenselected.

Returning now to FIG. 4C, when the user has requested advice regardingan appraisal of their library at process block 424, the librarianprocess 400 computes or otherwise obtains an appraisal of the inventoryassociated with the designated library as stored in the libraryinventory database 214, and, optionally, confines the appraisal to acollection of products in the library if so designated by the user inthe adviser interface described above with reference to FIG. 12. Theprocess 400 further continues at decision block 426 to determine whetheruser wishes to sell their library, and, if so, branches to process block428, where the user can link to a seller interface to arrange to sellthe contents of their library online.

Referring now to FIG. 4E, as an example of the appraisal process, atprocess block 442, the librarian process 400 causes the Web program 500to display an appraisal interface in response to the user's request, asillustrated in FIGS. 13A-13C. With reference to FIG. 13A at referencenumeral 1302, entitled “LIBRARY APPRAISAL,” at reference numeral 1304.The librarian process 400 continues at process block 444 to obtain thename of the library, collection, or product for which an appraisal hasbeen requested, as the case may be. For example, as shown in FIG. 13,the name of the library, “Mary's Library,” for which an appraisal isrequested appears in a text box at reference numeral 1306 along with thename of the collection at reference numeral 1310, here selected as the“Kids” collection as appears in drop-down box at reference numeral 1312.In one embodiment, an appraisal may be requested for a particularproduct in the library by library by selecting, for example, theparticular title similar to the title selection shown in FIG. 10.

The librarian process 400 continues at process block 446 to determinethe condition of the product or products, e.g., the title or collection,for which an appraisal is requested, as needed. For example, as shown inFIG. 13, the user is prompted at reference numeral 1310 to enter orselect a description of the overall condition of the collection, e.g.,whether the condition is fair, poor, good, missing dust covers, missingliner notes, etc. In the illustrated example, the overall condition ofthe selected “Kids” collection is specified as “GOOD,” as appears indrop-down box at reference numeral 1310. It is understood, however, thatthe condition of a product may not always be relevant to the computationof a particular appraisal. For example, when the product is a compactdisk (CD), the medium is generally very durable, and will notdeteriorate to any great degree over a period of time, unless the wearis excessive. Accordingly, at process block 446, in one embodiment thelibrarian process 400 instead determines an expected condition of theproduct based on the age of the product, and without further referenceto the actual condition of the product, whether or not that informationhas been indicated by the user. In some cases, the condition of theproduct may be determined from the absence or presence of any parts ofthe product, e.g. a book's dust cover, a CD's liner notes, etc., asindicated by the user in the description of the condition of the productat reference numeral 1310.

The librarian process 400 continues at process block 448, by providingthe user with a command button 1308 labeled “APPRAISE,” which may beactivated by the user to cause the librarian process 400 to compute anappraisal for the product, collection and/or library already specifiedprior to navigating to the appraisal interface, or to compute orotherwise obtain an appraisal for a newly specified product, collectionand/or library. The librarian process 400 may compute or otherwiseobtain appraisals in various ways, including prompting the user toself-assess the condition of each product in a collection, andconsulting a resale value database (not shown) to obtain resale valuesfor a product in the assessed condition. Other ways of computing and/orotherwise obtaining the appraisal for the specified product, collectionand/or library may include, as previously described, determining anexpected condition of the product based on the age of the product, andconsulting a resale value database (not shown) to obtain resale valuesfor the product in the described condition.

Once computed, the resale values comprising the appraisal may be listedfor individual products in the library, a collection of products, or forthe entire library.

Returning again to FIGS. 4C, 4D, and FIG. 13A, the librarian process 400notifies the user about the appraisal as requested, at process block450, and returns the computed appraisal to the adviser user interface atprocess block 452. The librarian process 400, in turn, at process block424, displays the appraisal of the collection (or library) in the formof text appearing at reference numeral 1314, in this example “In goodcondition, your KIDS collection is valued at approximately $32.50 ifsold together as a collection.” Along with the textual appraisal, thelibrary appraisal interface 1304 typically includes a detailed appraisalof each product in the inventory associated with the library and/orcollection. For example, at reference numeral 1316, the text “For adetailed appraisal of an individual book, please click on any of thetitles below:” appears above a list of the individual products in theKIDS collection, here including the books entitled “Harry Potter and theSorcerer's Stone,” at reference numeral 1318A, “Harry Potter and theGoblet of Fire”, at reference numeral 1318B, “Harry Potter and the Orderof the Phoenix,” at reference numeral 1318C, and “Fantastic Beasts &Where to find Them,” at reference numeral 1318D. The detailed appraisalmay appear as described with reference to FIG. 13B. In anotherembodiment, the appraisal for the collection (or library) and/ordetailed appraisal may be displayed with the image of the correspondingproduct(s). In addition or in the alternative, the appraisal may bedisplayed with the corresponding inventory information for theproduct(s). Continuing with reference to FIG. 13A, the library appraisalinterface 1304 may include a display entitled “CURRENT RESALE VALUE KIDSCOLLECTION,” at reference numeral 1320, beneath which is displayed theappraised value of the collection, here “$32.50,” at reference numeral1322. As shown, the library appraisal interface 1304 may furtherincludes a command button labeled “SELL COLLECTION NOW!” at referencenumeral 1324, so that the user can navigate to an interface that willassist the user in placing the collection up for sale. In FIG. 13B, theresale values comprising the appraisal may be also be displayedindividually, i.e., the detailed appraisal, to provide the user with amore comprehensive appraisal of their library.

Returning again to FIGS. 4C, 4D, and also to FIG. 13B, the librarianprocess 400, at process block 424, displays a detailed appraisalinterface at reference numeral 1326, here for products contained in“MARY'S LIBRARY>KIDS COLLECTION>” as identified at reference numeral1328. As shown, the detailed appraisal of the products may be displayedin the form of a tabulated list with a column entitled “TITLE,” atreference numeral 1330, below which is listed the titles or otheridentifying information of each product for which a detailed appraisalis displayed, a column entitled “CONDITION,” at reference numeral 1332,below which is provided a pull-down list of choices for describing thecondition of the product, such as good, fair, or poor, and a columnentitled “APPRAISAL,” at reference numeral 1334, below which is providedthe detailed appraised value of the product in the collection. As shownin the illustrated example, the detailed appraisal of products in theKIDS COLLECTION of MARY'S LIBRARY includes the titles “Harry Potter andthe Sorcerer's Stone,” in GOOD condition, valued at $5.95 at referencenumeral 1338A, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” in FAIR condition,valued at $4.95 at reference numeral 1338B, “Harry Potter and the Orderof the Phoenix,” in POOR condition, valued at $2.95 at reference numeral1338C, and “Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them,” in GOOD condition,valued at $7.95 at reference numeral 1338D.

Continuing with reference to FIG. 13B, the detailed library appraisalinterface 1326 further includes command buttons labeled “SELL” atreference numeral 1336 to sell each individual title shown at referencenumerals 1338A, 1338B, 1338C, and 1338D, respectively, and a commandbutton labeled “SELL ALL” to aggregate the sale of all of the selectedtitles, e.g., an entire inventory of titles associated with a selectedcollection or library, at reference numeral 1344. As shown in theillustrated example, the text “TOTAL APPRAISED VALUE IF SOLDINDIVIDUALLY,” at reference numeral 1340 is displayed together with thevalue “$21.80,” at reference numeral 1342 to indicate to the user thetotal value of selling each of the listed titles individually at theirdetail appraised values. The total value may or may not be the same asselling all of the products together as a collection, i.e., thecollection as a whole may be worth more or less than the individualproducts comprising the collection. In one embodiment, the librarianprocess 400 may provide the user with additional information related tothe appraised value. For example, text such as “FOR VALUABLE INFORMATIONABOUT HOW TO INCREASE THE VALUE OF YOUR COLLECTION, CLICK HERE!” atreference numeral 1346 may be displayed to alert the user to informationthat may help them increase the value of their collection. In theillustrated example, clicking on the text will transfer the user toanother interface, such as the extended appraisal interface describedwith reference to FIG. 13C below.

Continuing with reference to FIG. 13B, when the sell links are activatedby the user, the librarian process 400 transfers the user to another Webpage (not illustrated) containing a seller interface in which the usermay arrange to sell the contents of their library by listing their booksfor sale on a merchant web site. In a typical embodiment, the librarianprocess 400 pre-populates the various data fields used to present thetitles for sale on the merchant web site wherever possible to facilitatethe sale.

Referring now to FIG. 4E, as an example of an extended appraisalprocess, at process block 442, the librarian process 400 causes the Webprogram 500 to display an extended appraisal interface in response tothe user's request, e.g., when the user clicks on the additionalinformation link at reference numeral 1346 in FIG. 13B. For example, thelibrarian process 400 at process block 448 may have computed an extendedappraisal, such as identifying one or more additional products that auser may add to a collection in a library to enhance the summaryappraised value of the collection. Alternatively, or in addition to amonetary value, the librarian process 400 at process block 448 may havecomputed an extended appraisal that includes such non-monetaryinformation as a relative scarcity of a particular product, e.g., rarevs. common, or such information as whether the collection is or is notcomplete, e.g., adding a third and final book in a series would completea collection of books in a series. Once computed, the extended appraisalmay be displayed as shown in the illustrated example in FIG. 13C, inwhich the librarian process 400 displays an extended appraisal interfaceat reference numeral 1348, here for products contained in “MARY'SLIBRARY>KIDS COLLECTION>MORE INFO>” as identified at reference numeral1355. As in FIG. 13A, the librarian process 400, at process block 424,displays the summary appraisal of the collection (or library) in theform of text appearing at reference numeral 1352, in this example “Ingood condition, your KIDS collection is valued at approximately $32.50if sold together as a collection.” Beneath the summary appraisal isdisplayed a command button captioned “CLICK HERE TO SELL KIDS COLLECTIONNOW FOR $32.50,” at reference numeral 1354, so that the user maynavigate away from the extended appraisal at reference numeral 1348, toimmediately sell the collection as it currently stands. However, if theuser is interested in extending the value of their collection, the useris further alerted to the extended appraisal in highlighted text “IF YOUADD THE BELOW TITLES 5-8 TO YOUR COLLECTION:” “YOUR COLLECTION WOULD BEVALUED AT” at reference numerals 1356 and 1320, and a monetary valuecomprising the extended appraisal, here “$52.00” at reference numeral1322, an increase in value of nearly $20 more than the KIDS collectionas it currently exists. Such extended appraisal information may functionas an incentive for a user to augment their collection with productsthat are identified as part of the extended appraisal, particularly ifthey can obtain them for less than $20.00, thereby insuring a subsequentprofitable sale of the KIDS collection. In the illustrated example, alist of the products that were identified as part of the extendedappraisal appears beneath the highlighted text, in this case includingthe titles “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” at referencenumeral 1358A, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone,” at referencenumeral 1358B, “Quidditch Through the Ages,” at reference numeral 1358C,and “Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis (Harry Potter and thePhilosopher's Stone, Latin edition),” at reference numeral 1358D. Asshown, the extended appraisal interface 1348 may further includes acommand button labeled “ADD TO YOUR COLLECTION NOW!” at referencenumeral 1360, which, when activated by the user, cause the librarianprocess 400 to transfer the user to another Web page (not illustrated)containing a merchant interface in which the user may arrange topurchase the recommended titles, similar to the librarian process 400for library acquisition as described below with reference to FIG. 4D andFIG. 14.

Referring once again to FIG. 4E, the librarian process 400 at processblock 450, notifies the user about the appraisal of the title,collection, or selected library as requested. The notification is madein accordance with the notification preferences previously specified,e.g., weekly updates via email containing a link to the appraisalinterface 1304 described above. Accordingly, the process at referencenumber 448 may be performed on demand, or may be repeated in accordancewith the notification preferences of frequency 1224 and communicationmethod 1226 as previously described with reference to FIG. 12. In theillustrated example, the notification may have been sent to the user inthe form of an email message that, when activated, caused the Webbrowser 500 to display the library user interface as shown in FIG. 13,populated with appraisals in the form of resale values at reference link1320.

Referring now to FIG. 4D, the librarian process 400 continues at processblock 429, to display an acquisition user interface to the user inresponse to a request for advice from the librarian 300 regardingsuggested acquisitions for a particular library. The process 400 furthercontinues at decision block 430 to determine whether user wishes to buythe recommended titles, and, if so, branches to process block 432, wherethe user can link to a merchant interface to arrange to purchase therecommended titles online.

In the illustrated acquisition interface in FIG. 14 at reference numeral1402, entitled “Library Acquisition” at reference numeral 1404, the userhas entered the name of the library “Mary's Library” at referencenumeral 1406 for which the user is seeking acquisition recommendationsor suggestions. The user is optionally prompted to select the name of aparticular collection at reference numeral 1410 within the library forwhich acquisition recommendations are sought using a drop-down box atreference numeral 1412, here selecting the “Kids” collection. Thelibrarian process 400 prompts the user with the acquisitionrecommendations for the specified collection (or library) in the form oftext appearing at reference numeral 1414, in this example “We suggestacquiring the below titles to complement your KIDS collection.”

In one embodiment, the librarian process 400 generates the acquisitionrecommendations in consultation with an acquisition database (notshown), in which is stored pre-defined recommendations by genre,category, age group, etc. In one embodiment, the recommendations may bedynamically generated to complement historical data obtained from thehistory database 212 for the user. Below the text 1414, the libraryacquisition interface 1402 typically includes a list of one or moreitems that the librarian 300 recommends adding to the library. In theillustrated example, the librarian process 400 causes the Web browserprogram 500 to display three items, including “Harry Potter and TheChamber of Secrets,” at reference numeral 1416A, “Harry Potter and ThePrisoner of Azkaban,” at reference numeral 1416B, and “Quidditch Throughthe Ages” at reference numeral 1416C. Along with the list of each bookis displayed a command button labeled “PURCHASE” at reference numerals1418A, 1418B, and 1418C, which, when activated by the user, cause thelibrarian process 400 to transfer the user to another Web page (notillustrated) containing a merchant interface in which the user mayarrange to purchase the recommended titles.

Returning now to FIG. 4D, the librarian process 400 continues at processblock 434, to display an organization user interface to the user inresponse to a request for advice from the librarian 300 regardingsuggestions for organizing a particular library. The process 400 furthercontinues at decision block 436 to determine whether the user wishes toorganize their library as suggested, and, if so, branches to processblock 438, where the user is transferred to the library creation andupdate interface illustrated at FIG. 6 so that the user can begin theprocess of uploading new images of their reorganized library.Alternatively, the user is transferred to the library viewer andinventory interfaces at FIGS. 7-9 so that the user may update theinventory information directly to reflect the new organization.

For example, in the illustrated organization interface in FIG. 15 atreference numeral 1502, entitled “Library Organizer” at referencenumeral 1504, the user has entered the name of the library “Mary'sLibrary” at reference numeral 1506 for which the user is seekingorganization advice. The user is optionally prompted to select the nameof a particular collection at reference numeral 1510 within the libraryfor which organization advice is sought using a drop-down box atreference numeral 1512, here selecting the “Kids” collection. Thelibrarian process 400 prompts the user with organization advice for thespecified collection (or library) in the form of text appearing atreference numeral 1514, in this example “We suggest organizing thefollowing 3 titles in a new collection entitled “CHILDREN'S FANTASY,”below which the library organization interface 1502 typically includes alist of one or more items that the librarian 300 recommends reorganizingto a different shelf or collection within the library. In theillustrated example, the librarian process 400 causes the Web browserprogram 500 to display three items, including “Harry Potter and theSorcerer's Stone” at reference numeral 1516A, “Harry Potter and theGoblet of Fire” at reference numeral 1516B, and “Harry Potter and theOrder of the Phoenix,” at reference numeral 1516C. Along with the listof each book is displayed a command button labeled “MOVE” at referencenumerals 1518A, 1518B, and 1518C, which, when activated by the user,cause the librarian process 400 to automatically update the inventoryusing the generated suggestions displayed in the library organizerinterface 1502. Activating the “MOVE” buttons 1518A, 1518B, and 1518Cmay alternatively transfer the user to the library create/updateinterface 602 illustrated in FIG. 6 so that the user may reorganizetheir home bookshelves according to the suggestions, and upload newimages of the reorganized bookshelves. Alternatively, the process 400may transfer the user to the library viewer and inventory interfaces atreference numerals 702 and 802 in FIGS. 7 and 8, to allow the user theopportunity to update the inventory to reflect the suggestedorganization, which update may be performed manually.

It will be appreciated that describing the librarian process 400 byreference to the flow diagrams in FIGS. 4A-4E enables one skilled in theart to develop computer-executable instructions to carry out the processon suitably configured computers. The flow diagrams do not, however,constrain the execution of such instructions to carry out the process inany particular order, nor do they require that every aspect of thelibrarian process 400 described herein be carried out in everyembodiment. In addition, the computer-executable instructions to carryout the process described in FIGS. 4A-4E may be written in a computerprogramming language or may be embodied in firmware logic. If written ina programming language conforming to a recognized standard, suchinstructions can be executed on a variety of hardware platforms andinterface with a variety of operating systems.

It will be further appreciated that the present invention is notdescribed with reference to any particular programming language, and itwill be appreciated that a variety of programming languages may be usedto implement the teachings of the invention as described. Furthermore,it is common in the art to speak of software, in one form or another(e.g., program, procedure, process, application . . . ), as taking anaction or causing a result. Such expressions are merely a shorthand wayof saying that execution of the software by a computer causes theprocessor of the computer to perform an action or a produce a result.

It will be further appreciated that the Web page interfaces describedfor the librarian 300 with reference to FIGS. 5-15 are only illustrativeand do not serve to limit the general application of the invention. Forexample, links as referenced herein may be embodied by the commandbuttons illustrated and described at reference numerals 512, 518, 614,708, 808, 1008, 1108, 1208, 1308, 1322, 1324, 1336, 1344, 1360, 1418,and 1518, by hypertext links, or by other selectable connections that,when activated, will cause the librarian process 400 to take thedescribed action, such as transferring the user to another Web pageinterface, or generating an additional or updated display on the currentWeb page interface.

While typical embodiments of the invention have been illustrated anddescribed above, it will be appreciated that various changes can be madetherein without departing from scope of the claims that follow. Forexample, although the described embodiments refer primarily toimplementations of the invention in the context of appraising acollection of products in a library containing books, otherimplementations in the context of appraising a collection of products ina library of music and videos, or other media products, are contemplatedas being within the scope of the present invention.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:
 1. A computer-implementedmethod that is executed on a computing device for appraising products,comprising: receiving, by a computing device, a visual image of one ormore products; analyzing, by a computing device, one or more visualelements in the received image and based on the analysis of the one ormore visual elements, automatically recognizing a product identifier ofa product depicted in the received image, wherein the product identifierincludes product identification information that is part of the productand is visible in the received image; identifying, by a computingdevice, the product from the recognized product identifier; andgenerating, by a computing device, an appraisal of the product that isidentified from the recognized product identifier.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the appraisal is a monetary value associated with theproduct.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the monetary value associatedwith the product is a resale value of the product.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the appraisal is a non-monetary value associated withthe product.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the non-monetary valueassociated with the product is a relative assessment of value based onan availability of the product.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein therelative assessment of value is different when the availability of theproduct is scarce than when the availability is common.
 7. The method ofclaim 1 further comprising providing notification of the appraisal ofthe product.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein providing notification ofthe appraisal comprises displaying the appraisal for the product withthe image of the product.
 9. The method of claim 7, wherein providingnotification of the appraisal comprises sending at least one of a linkto the appraisal, an email containing the link to the appraisal, and aninstant message containing the link to the appraisal.
 10. The method ofclaim 1, wherein generating the appraisal comprises generating a summaryappraisal of a collection of products for which product identifiers wereextracted from the image.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein thesummary appraisal is at least one of a monetary value and non-monetaryvalue associated with the collection of products.
 12. The method ofclaim 11, wherein the non-monetary value associated with the collectionof products is a relative assessment of completeness of the collection.13. The method of claim 12, wherein the relative assessment ofcompleteness is different when a number of products missing from thecollection is small than when the number of products missing from thecollection is great.
 14. The method of claim 12, wherein the relativeassessment of completeness is different when an availability of aproduct missing from the collection is scarce than when an availabilityof a product missing from the collection is common.
 15. The method ofclaim 12, wherein the relative assessment of completeness is differentwhen an availability of a product present in the collection is scarcethan when an availability of a product present in the collection iscommon.
 16. The method of claim 11, wherein the monetary value is aresale value of the collection when the products are sold as part of thecollection.
 17. The method of claim 12, wherein the monetary value isdependent on the relative assessment of completeness.
 18. The method ofclaim 10, further comprising providing notification of the summaryappraisal.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein providing notification ofthe summary appraisal comprises displaying a name of the collection ofproducts for which the summary appraisal was generated and thecorresponding summary appraisal associated with the collection.
 20. Themethod of claim 19, wherein providing notification of the summaryappraisal comprises displaying the corresponding summary appraisalassociated with the collection with an image of the collection.
 21. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising selecting an image from which theproduct identifier is revealed and the appraisal generated.
 22. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising selecting a library, the libraryhaving an inventory of identified products for which the appraisal isgenerated.
 23. The method of claim 22, further comprising selecting acollection within the library, the collection identifying a subset ofthe inventory of identified products for which the appraisal isgenerated.
 24. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing asell link in connection with the appraisal, wherein activating the selllink initiates a sale of the product for which the appraisal wasgenerated.
 25. A computer-implemented system for facilitating anappraisal, the system comprising: a repository containing a visual imageof a product; a computing device in communication with the repository,wherein the computing device is configured to: analyze one or morevisual elements in the received image and based on the analysis,automatically recognize human-comprehensible product identificationinformation from the image of the product, wherein thehuman-comprehensible product identification information is visuallyrevealed in the image of the product, and generate an appraisal of theproduct depicted in the image, wherein the appraisal is based on therecognized human-comprehensible product identification information; anda display device in communication with the computing device fordisplaying the generated appraisal.
 26. The system of claim 25, whereinthe appraisal is a monetary value associated with the product.
 27. Thesystem of claim 26, wherein the monetary value associated with theproduct is a resale value of the product.
 28. The system of claim 25,wherein the appraisal is a non-monetary value associated with theproduct.
 29. The system of claim 28, wherein the non-monetary valueassociated with the product is a relative assessment of value based onan availability of the product.
 30. The system of claim 29, wherein therelative assessment of value is different when the availability of theproduct is scarce than when the availability is common.
 31. The systemof claim 25, wherein the computing device is further configured toprovide notification that the appraisal has been generated.
 32. Thesystem of claim 31, wherein the notification that the appraisal has beengenerated is provided in accordance with a notification preference. 33.The system of claim 32, wherein the notification preference comprises atleast one of a frequency of providing the notification and acommunication method of providing the notification.
 34. The system ofclaim 33, wherein the frequency of providing the notification comprisesat least one of providing the notification daily, weekly, monthly, andon demand.
 35. The system of claim 33, wherein the communication methodof providing the notification comprises sending an email containing alink that, when activated, causes the computing device to display theappraisal on the display device.
 36. The system of claim 33, wherein thecommunication method of providing the notification comprises sending avoicemail indicating that display of the appraisal on the display devicemay be requested.
 37. The system of claim 33, wherein the communicationmethod of providing the notification comprises sending an instantmessage indicating that display of the appraisal on the display devicemay be requested.
 38. The system of claim 25, wherein the computingdevice is further configured to display the appraisal on the displaydevice proximate to a display of the image in which the product isdepicted.
 39. The system of claim 25, wherein the computing device isfurther configured to display the appraisal on the display deviceproximate to a display of the product identification informationextracted from the image.
 40. The system of claim 25, wherein generatingthe appraisal comprises generating a summary appraisal of a collectionof products depicted in the image.
 41. The system of claim 40, whereinthe summary appraisal is at least one of a monetary value andnon-monetary value associated with the collection of products.
 42. Thesystem of claim 41, wherein the non-monetary value associated with thecollection of products is a relative assessment of completeness of thecollection.
 43. The system of claim 42, wherein the relative assessmentof completeness is different when a number of products missing from thecollection is small than when the number of products missing from thecollection is great.
 44. The system of claim 42, wherein the relativeassessment of completeness is different when an availability of aproduct missing from the collection is scarce than when an availabilityof a product missing from the collection is common.
 45. The system ofclaim 42, wherein the relative assessment of completeness is differentwhen an availability of a product present in the collection is scarcethan when an availability of a product present in the collection iscommon.
 46. The system of claim 42, wherein the monetary value isdependent on the relative assessment of completeness.
 47. The system ofclaim 41, wherein the monetary value is a resale value of the collectionwhen the products are sold together.
 48. The system of claim 25, whereinthe computing device is further configured to enable selection of theimage from which the product identification information was extracted.49. The system of claim 25, wherein the computing device is furtherconfigured to enable selection of a library, the library containingextracted product identification information from which the appraisal isgenerated.
 50. The system of claim 49, wherein the computing device isfurther configured to enable selection of a collection within thelibrary, the collection identifying a subset of extracted productidentification information contained in the library from which theappraisal is generated.
 51. The system of claim 50, wherein thecomputing device is further configured to enable specification of acondition of the collection within the library for which the appraisalis requested.
 52. The system of claim 25, wherein the computing deviceis further configured to display a sell link on the display devicecorresponding to the displayed appraisal, wherein the sell link, whenactivated, causes the computing device to initiate sale of the productfor which the appraisal was generated.
 53. A computing apparatus,comprising: a memory unit; and a processor unit configured to executeinstructions stored in the memory unit, wherein the instructions causethe computing apparatus to: receive a visual image of products as theproducts appear in a location in which the products are stored; receivea request for an appraisal of at least one of the products for whichproduct identification information is revealed in the image of theproducts; analyze one or more visual elements in the image of theproducts and based on the analysis of the one or more visual elements,automatically recognize the product identification information from thereceived image, wherein the product identification information isvisible information that is part of the product; and generate theappraisal based on the recognized product identification information.54. The computing apparatus of claim 53, wherein the processor unit isfurther configured to receive an indication of a condition of theproduct for which the appraisal is requested.
 55. The computingapparatus of claim 54, wherein the processor unit is further configuredto generate the appraisal based on the indicated condition of theproduct.
 56. The computing apparatus of claim 53, wherein the processorunit is further configured to notify a user of the generated appraisal.57. The computing apparatus of claim 56, wherein the processor unit isfurther configured to receive a request to view the appraisal from theuser that was notified, and to display the appraisal on a display devicein response to the received request.
 58. The computing apparatus ofclaim 56, wherein the processor unit is further configured to notify theuser in accordance with a notification preference.
 59. The computingapparatus of claim 53, wherein the processor unit is further configuredto determine a monetary value associated with the product.
 60. Thecomputing apparatus of claim 59, wherein the processor unit is furtherconfigured to determine the monetary value associated with the productby executing instructions that cause the computing apparatus todetermine a resale value of the product.
 61. The computing apparatus ofclaim 53, wherein the processor unit is further configured to generatethe appraisal by executing instructions that cause the computingapparatus to determine a non-monetary value associated with the product.62. The computing apparatus of claim 61, wherein the processor unit isfurther configured to determine the non-monetary value associated withthe product by executing instructions that cause the computing apparatusto generate a relative assessment of value based on an availability ofthe product.
 63. The computing apparatus of claim 62, wherein therelative assessment of value is different when the availability of theproduct is scarce than when the availability is common.